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Send a child with Muscular Dystrophy to summer camp...
Posted Wednesday, April 2, 2008, at 5:10 PM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
I am writing today on a personal note. My office hosts a benefit auction every year to raise money for kids with Muscular Dystrophy. 100 % of the money raised is used to send these children to summer camp. The cost is about $625 per child and that gives these kids a chance to have a care free week swimming, fishing, boating, horse riding, etc. Even a child in a wheel chair is able to be lowered into the pool to swim. It is a great experience. The parents also get a week to relax from a typical very busy, and I am sure stressful life. It is a great cause! I am making a shameless plea for donations or asking you to buy tickets to our dinner/singing/auction. We are having a BBQ dinner catered by the Bell Buckle Cafe. Two His Glory and The Cavaliers will be singing. Our special guest this year is Kevin Frye from Winchester. He is the MDA goodwill ambassador for 2008. The event is April 12th at the Shelbyville Central High School cafeteria. The dinner begins at 4:30 PM. You can prepurchase tickets at or mail donations to 1303 N. Main St., Shelbyville, TN 37160. Any items for the auction will be greatly appreciated as well. I will see you there! Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
Kenneth Parker is a local real estate agent.
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I actually volunteered as a camp counselor one year with the Nashville MDA and it was such a great and rewarding experience for the children and for myself. It gives the campers an outlet to be a child and have fun and be in a positive environment with people that understand their condition but yet not be limited by it. Believe me, these children definitely enjoy it and they have so much fun and that is what makes it all worth while.
I used to host auctions at the church I grew up in to raise money for our youth. I don't know if you have checked, but the local Wal Mart there always donated things to be auctioned. And a lot of the local businesses donated money to help. We even set up a mini carnival one year with games and food and prizes for the people that won. We charged $1 per game and everyone got a prize whether they won or not. We would go to the Dollar Store or the Dollar Tree and get little things for the prizes. This may not be something you are interested in, but we raised a good deal of money every time we done this!
We have talked about doing something like the games, but our help is limited and we stay pretty busy with everything else. That is definitely a possibility for next year. The local businesses and small companies are great here. People do not realize how many times a day they get hit for donations. They continue to give which is what makes our county great.
Jaxspike, Did you go to Gainesboro or was it somewhere else? We visited a couple years ago and it was a very great and rewarding experience for me. I may have gotten more from it than the kids.
Were can we get the ticket's??..I know the food will be wonderful because it is coming from the Bell Buckle Cafe...They have the best darn home cooking food around here.This is wonderful and we will be getting 3 of those tickets....
Yes, I think it was in Gainesboro(its been a few years since I went) and it was definitely a nice little camp they had set up for the children. I actually had my camper teach me how to fish because I hadn't been fishing since I was a little kid and we had a blast and of course the dance was really nice too.
The experience though taught me to appreciate so many things in life.
Rebelrose, You can come by our office at 1303 N. Main St., Shelbyville. We are near the Huddle House. If you can not come by here then you can get tickets at the door that night. It is a great event and we will be glad to have you. There will also be "to go" plates if someone can not stay.
I work at a place that just got finished with a fundraiser for the same purpose and organization. We are told that all of the money goes to the summer camp project, but do you really think that with all the money they rake in from all of the businesses that participate, that it all really goes to the children to go to summer camp?
I can assure you that all the money we get from this auction is passed on to MDA for the kids. We are told that is where the money goes, but if they use some of it for research or to help find a cure then I am OK with that too. The organization does have people that work there and help to organize camp or the various fundraisers. I do not suspect they work for free. Our purpose is to raise for the summer camp.
jkelley...Come on now...Why would you ask such a question ??? It is for children !!! come on now ..do you really think that they would take money away from children ??? You wrote in on another blog. that your son came home and told you he see's kid's in the hallway at his school selling drugs...And you said it made you sick..Well you should have gone to the school board about it if it is true..You have the gall to ask if all the money taken up for these children would really be used for them at summer camp !!! Shame on you for thinking such a thing...Shame on you for not reporting to the school board that they are selling drugs in your son school in the hallway..
Well, rebelrose, who am I? Who are you? Do you really think that anyone would listen to a parent about drugs being in schools when I am never there to see it for myself? Do you think the school board would call a special meeting for me to express my personal concern about this going on? Besides, I know my son isn't the one doing it. I know I raised him to do better for himself. It is up to the teachers and the parents of those students to take responsibility of their own children, not mine. As for the fundraiser, I know for a fact that there are people living off of these fundraisers that people so freely give to. You see it everyday on the news and I'm sure this organization is no exception even though they probably do send some kids to summer camp. I think this is good. But I only give to my church or if I see someone really in need along the way in my everyday life, I would stop to help them and have in the past. Charity is a good thing, but there are thieves among us and always someone with their hand in my pocket.
There is always a possibility of money not going where it is promised. As a contributor or campaignor for the cause, we cannot be bothered by that. Just like Kenneth and his company, it where your heart is. They feel lead to do this for the children, in turn they trust the organization they contribute their efforts to. Past that, it is out of their control. The giver gets the blessing and takers are responsible and accountable for what they do with it. There has to be a level of trust. You give with your heart and let God handle the people that are accountable.
jkelley, MDA has been around for many, many years. They are a national organization and help families with many of the expenses that are incurred due to these various muscular diseases. They assist with giving families wheelchairs or braces for their arms or legs. MDA is a blessing to these families that have children with these problems. Our guest this year, Kevin Frye, has been to the camp and his family will be there that night to tell us how much MDA means to them. Why don't you come? You can not eat anywhere else for $5 per person.
As for the camp, MDA sponsors and runs the entire camp. They do not send the kids to camp. They are the camp. It is in Gainesboro at a gorgeous camp site, and they hosts many kids for an entire week. Most of them talk about or look forward to this camp every year.
I also give to my church and help any one I can that is in need. I do not honestly know that every penny I have given to the church is used as it should be, but I give in good faith.
I am also assuming that by organization you mean MDA and are not implying that my company is raising the money for ourselves. These fundraisers are alot of hard work and we are proud of what we have raised, but I will stick to my day job to earn a living.
Here is the link to the MDA website.
http://www.mda.org/
Thanks for the information KParker and the website.
My comment is about the Parker family themselves. I want to recognize them for all they do for the community! They do so many benefit auctions and fundraisers. I have spoken with David on several occassions and he said he is very grateful for all that was done for his family years back when his father had been injured. I have gotten a couple of donations for them for the MDA events and so has my mother. They were very good to us when my uncle (Herman Marr) had cancer and we went to them about doing his benefit. I hope they all know how grateful we were to them and how much my family appreciates all they do for our community.
Thank you for the kind words. I was in 8th grade when my Dad was in that accident. I still remember strangers coming to me at ball games or in the community and handing me money for our family. I can not tell you how many meals were made for us by friends and family. At the benefit they had for my Dad I saw a man that was very poor give his entire pay check to my Dad's partner, Donald, because he wanted to help. My Dad always gave him work to do and he always seemed to be there helping around our farm when he was not working his other job. He knew my Dad from the time he was a boy, and I guess Dad was always good to him.
Yes, that is why we do it, but I suspect even if my father did not have that wreck we would still try to help. It just means more to us now because we experienced that side of it. I also must mention that we have many in our office that are at most every one of those benefits with us. They do it out of their own goodness. Thanks for the help on this one. I hope to see you there.
Keep up the good work KP.
I learned a lot about people from my uncle's auction that you guys did. They are very generous even when they don't have much themselves. One example was a man that had gone to school with my uncle that didn't have much money had gone out and cut a whole load of wood and loaded it up and brought it to the auction to sell just before it was time for it to start just because he wanted to contribute. That was so touching. It was also pretty amazing that a tv that was donated was raffled off and the winner donated it back to be auctioned again and then it repeated several times until that same tv ended up bringing around $600 besides what was taken up in raffle tickets. I suspect that the Parker family would still do these things if it hadn't been for that accident too, but I think it has given it more meaning for them as well.